Chasing Chocobo
by water mixed flame
Summary: With Vanille injured, Lightning goes off to find something that'll help.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own Final Fantasy XIII

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**Chasing Chocobo**

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"Owwww," Vanille hissed. She bit her lip and felt her eyes sting with tears as she cradled her throbbing ankle. The group had just fought a band of Gorgonopsids, and just as one lunged at her, Vanille moved out of the way, only to trip over her own feet and fall in an awkward heap on the ground. She was sure that if it weren't for Lightning's speed, she would've been that monster's lunch! Speaking of the pink haired soldier...

"Are you alright?"

Vanille looked up to see Lightning. She watched as the soldier folded her gunblade and sheathed it before she knelt down beside her. Lightning's eyebrows furrowed as she reached forward and gently moved her hands away from her ankle. Her ice blue eyes narrowed in concentration, and her lips pursed as she inspected it. Vanille marveled at how gentle and warm those calloused hands were, and her heart fluttered. She breathed in sharply when they grazed over a particularly sore spot.

"Vanille!"

Vanille startled at the sound of her name, and looked up to see Fang rush over to her. The others jogging behind her, having just finished off the rest of the Gorgonopsid pack. Skidding to a stop on her other side, Fang crouched down. Her wild green eyes zeroed in on her ankle, and bit her lip at the dark bruise that was slolwy forming.

"That looks pretty nasty," she mumbled. Her hand hovered right above it, afraid to touch it. She looked over at the soldier, "Well?"

Lightning encompassed her ankle with a palm, pressing them gently against it as she summoned up a cure spell. Vanille gasped lightly at its warmth, and watched in slight awe as it began to glow, a soft blue light running over her ankle and easing the pain.

"It's fractured. I won't be able to heal it completely right now," Lightning gave a short nod at her work and stood up. Vanille bit her lip, already missing the soldier's touch.

Lightning looked across the expanse plains that were the Archytte Steppe and frowned. They were basically in the middle of nowhere.

"We need to find a better place to rest and recuperate. We're sitting ducks if we stay here, so..." Vanille watched as the pinkette stiffened, her voice trailing off.

"Fang," the huntress looked up from where she supported Vanille's lithe frame, "I want you and the others to stay here. Watch over Vanille. I'll be right back."

Before anyone could say anything, the soldier was off.

"Geez," Fang sighed with a shake of her head. She looked at Vanille and said, "It looks like we don't have much of a choice, eh?"

Vanille nodded, distracted, her eyes never leaving Lightning's form until she could no longer see her.

_'Please stay safe.'_

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

"I know I saw it move over here," Lightning grumbled to herself; her eyes scanned the area. The soldier had made her way to one of the Steppe's plateaus after spotting the one thing that could help them in this situation. A flash of yellow in the corner of her eye, had her swirling around to see her target.

"There you are," she muttered under her breath. A few feet in front of her, completley unaware of her presence as it began to peck at the grass, stood a chocobo. Staring at the large bird, Lightning reached behind herself, patted her back right above where her gunblade hung, and frowned. The Gyashi reigns that she kept there were gone.

_'Well, so much for going about it the easy way,'_ she thought, then sighed in slight irritation, _'Looks like I'll have to do it the hard way.'_

She reached for her gunblade as she slowly approached her target, suddenly freezing in place when the giant bird abruptly stopped eating and turned its head to look at her with two beady black eyes.

Slowly raising its long neck, the chocobo stared at the pinkette warily. Once it was at full hight, practically towering over her, the chocobo cocked its head to the side, studying her. It had seen these strange creatures around the Steppe, fighting against other monsters. It had even heard that these strangers rescued its bretheren from a pack of Sahagins that had them trapped in their home for a good, long time. But...

The beady eyes stopped roaming Lightning, and narrowed at the sight of her hand gripping her blade. Scuffing the ground with its feet, the giant bird's feathers ruffled as it gave the soldier a warning squawk.

Watching the chocobo shuffle restlessly and draw itself taller than it was, Lightning stiffened and followed its narrowed gaze to where she held her gunblade. Figuring that she was upsetting it, the pinkette slowly let go of the blade and carefully raised her hands up, hoping to placate it.

"Look," she spoke, her eyes locking with its own, and holding them in a staring match "I don't mean you any harm."

The bird's eyes narrowed more, and it snorted in blatant disbelief before lifting its beak up at her.

Lightning's eyebrow twitched at that, and she had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep herself from snapping at the bird.

"Listen," she said after taking a deep breath, "I really need your help. A friend of mine is injured, and she won't be able to walk for a while, so..."

The chocobo gave her a deadpanned stare, and Lightning felt her hackles rise in irritation.

"I can't believe I'm even _talking_ to this thing," she hissed under her breath.

The chocobo heard her and gave her what looked like a mocking smirk. It squawked at her.

Lightning grit her teeth together. Her ice-blue eyes flashing as a growl rumbled low in her throat. She tried to keep her anger in check. She had to try and reason with it...right? Lightning blinked. now that she thought about it, why _was _she trying to negotiate with the thing? Maybe the stress of this whole L'Cie thing was finally getting to her, or...

A flash of red. Shining emerald eyes. Melidous laughter filling the air as Vanille and Sazh's chocobo chick danced around each other in a small game of tag.

_'Oh yeah...'_ was the passing thought, _'That's why.'_

Not that she would ever admit it out loud.

The chocobo rolled its eyes and snorted. It turned around and kicked up dirt at her before it began to walk off.

"Tch!" Lightning narrowed her eyes at the bird. That was the last straw. She raced past it, catching it by surprise, and stopped a couple of feet in front of it.

"I need your help," she glared up at it, her hand reaching behind for her gunblade, "and I'm not taking 'no' for an answer. Now we can do this the easy way," she gripped the blade's handle, "or the hard way. Your choice."

The chocobo shuddered under her cold gaze and steady voice, but did not back down. It stood up straight and glared back; there was no way it was going to allow the smaller woman to beat him.

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A soft sigh swept past Vanille's lips as her eyes traveled across the Archette Steppe's expansive land, tryin to catch a glimpse of familiar pink hair. Frowning a little, the redhead gingerly drew her legs to her chest, and wrapped her arms around them. She rested her chin on top her knees. It'd been a good hour since Lightning had gone, and she was growing really worried. She knew the soldier was strong and could handle her own, but it was still very dangerous, especially wandering around this monster infested place alone. What if she got hurt? What if she ran into a Behemoth and got mauled? Or worse, what if she got squished by an Adamantortoise?

Vanille bit her lip, '_Okay,'_ she thought, trying to calm her nerves, _'The last one may be stretching it a little bit, but still, what if-'_

"Heya Vanille!"

Vanille jumped, jolted out of her worried, mental tirade by a deep, jovial voice, and looked up to see Snow grinning down at her.

"I'm sure Sis will be coming back in one piece soon!"

Vanille blinked and opened her mouth, "How did you-" She wondered briefly if he was some sort of mind reader.

The giant of a man plopped down beside her, his easy going grin widening, "You've been keeping an eye out since she left...and randomly mumbling to yourself," he smiled cheekily.

"Oh..." Vanille looked down at her feet. She felt a blush warm her cheeks.

Snow chuckled and patted her on the back, "Don't worry about it," he turned his gaze away from the embarassed red-head, and laughed, "Well, speaking of Lightning, lookie there!"

Vanille looked up as the blonde jumped to his feet, and green eyes widened when she saw the pinkette heading there way. Vanille squinted her eyes and pursed her lips, she could see something walking beside the soldier.

_'...Is that a Chocobo?'_ she wondered, bewildered, and blinked.

"What the heck?" she heard Snow mutter, and looked up at the giant of a man to see an amused smirk twitching at his lips, "Is that a Chocobo?"

He then laughed, and Vanille looked back to Lightning and the giant bird to see Lightning smack the bird's side. She raised an eyebrow when the bird, seemingly flustered, nudged the soldier back, causing her to stumble. She had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing as the pinkette glared at the bird and say something that Vanille was positive wasn't pleasant.

_'Are they...arguing?'_ she wondered as the bird squawked and glared back. Vanille sighed, her tense body finally unwinding. The soldier, she could see as the pair grew ever closer, only looked to be a bit ruffled, and Vanille was very grateful for that.

Folding her hands together, Vanille said a little prayer, and when she was done, reclined onto her hands to watch Lightning and the Chocobo bicker in growing amusement.

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Lightning huffed, her scowl deepening as she looked away from the Chocobo. It was so stuck up and being such a pain in the ass, she had to wonder if dragging the bird-brain back was going to be worth it.

Looking ahead, she saw Vanille sitting on the ground beside Snow, and smiled softly.

_'It'll be worth it,'_ she decided.

"About time, you got back," Snow said with his usuall grin, and Lightning rolled her eyes. He walked up to the Chocobo who glared down at him and whistled lowly, holding up his hands as a sign of peace.

"So this is what you went after?"

"Yeah," Lightning said, trading glares with the Chocobo before she went to kneel at Vanille's side.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, cradling her ankle in her hands to inspect it again, "Where are the others?"

Vanille's smile was shy as her cheeks burned a light pink, "I'm feeling better, thanks," she relaxed even more under the soldier's gentle touch, and reveled in its warmth "The others went to scout the area a little bit. Fang couldn't really sit still, and Snow volunteered to look after me, so Hope and Sazh had no choice but to go with her."

Lightning sighed heavily and scowled at Fang's actions. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately...

"She should've stayed here to look after you," she said, using some of what little magic she had to cast a cure.

"She only wanted to make sure that we weren't going to get jumped on by a pack of monsters," Vanille placed a hand over Lightning's.

Lightning stiffened under the soft touch, and looked up. Vanille blushed under the soldier's intense ice blues, but dared not to look away, nor remove her hand. The two stared into each other's eyes, loosing themselves in their depth till an indignant squawk followed by a pained yelp snapped them out of their reviere. Lightning and Vanille flinched back with small, twin blushes before they turned to see the Chocobo pecking at Snow, who had his arms up in an attempt to defend himself.

Vanille giggled lightly at the sight, while Lightning sighed, a faint, amused smile tugging at her lips. At least she wasn't the only one having trouble with the thing. Shaking her head, the pinkette stood up, brushing off dirt.

"I'm going to go settle this."

"Lightning," the pinkette looked down at Vanille. She winced when the red-head flashed her puppy dog eyes, "please don't hurt him."

Lightning opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, "I won't..." she started, "much."

Vanille pouted, causing the soldier to flinch and bite the inside of her cheek with a hiss.

"Please, Lightning," Vanille nearly whined, "Promise me you won't hurt him."

"A-Alright," Lightning stuttered briefly then sighed in defeat, "I promise I won't hurt him."

It was obviously the right thing to say as Vanille rewarded her with a bright smile.

"Thank you so much!"

Lightning gave a curt nod, "Right," she muttered, quickly turning away from the beaming red-head. Shaking her head, she stalked over to the Chocobo and Snow, and briefly wondered when she allowed herself to go soft around the red-head. Whatever the case was, she shook herself out of her thoughts and straightened when the Chocobo noticed her.

It gave Snow one last peck to the head, relishing in his startled cry before it turned to face what it liked to think was his nemesis. Glaring at the pinkette, it lightly shook itself and raised its wings with a warning squak. There was no way that the giant bird was going to lose to the shorter woman and let her boss it around..._again_.

Lightning scowled at the bird, but raised her hands in front of her, feeling the unwelcomed sensation of dejavu.

"Look," Lightning said, "We really need to get going so we can find the rest of our group, and you're going to help us by carrying her," Lightning gestured over her shoulder to Vanille.

The Chocobo's beady eyes briefly looked to the smiling red-head before it gave Lightning what she assumed to be a dead-panned stare.

Lightning sighed and muttered irritably under her breath before she forced out a strained, "_Please_," through gritted teeth. Honestly, she couldn't believe she was even saying this to the stubborn bird, but...she did promise Vanille...

The golden bird gave her an amused look before it snorted and turned its beak up at her.

"This is rediculous," Lightning scowled and stomped closer to the larger bird, and catching its attention, "If you don't help us," she whispered harshly under her breath as she lifted her hand palm-up and ignited a flame in it, "I'll Fira your feathered ass, got it?"

The Chocobo stared at the flame and blinked. It glanced behind himself at his singed tail feathers and shivered, several images of its intense battle against the pinkette flashing through its mind. As much as it wanted to get even with the soldier, it was still recovering from their fight...that and it would rather avoid getting its tail feathers set on fire... again.

Huffing, the Chocobo turned a beady eyed glare on Lightning and lowered its wings and head slightly as a sign of defeat. Nodding, Lightning turned and walked beside Snow, whispering, "Keep your eyes on it, and if it makes any sort of move to run away, I want you to Fira or freeze its ass, got it?"

Snow grinned toothily and chuckled, but nodded, "No prob, sis!" he punched his palm.

Lightning rolled her eyes, bit back what was sure to be a snide comment, and moved to Vanille. The girl giggled as the pinkette reached her.

"Thank you for keeping your promise, Light," her warm smile was appreciative, as Lightning knelt beside her.

"Right; now let's get going," the soldier wrapped an arm around slender shoulders before she scooped Vanille into her arms. The red-head squeaked in surprise, her arms wrapping around the soldier's neck instinctively.

Lightning chuckled, holding her close, "Don't worry, I've got you."

Vanille could only blush and nod. Truthfully, she leant more into the soldier's warmth and rested her head against her shoulder, she really quite liked this. It surprised her how secure she felt in the soldier's arms, and just in her presence really. She never thought she could feel this way around anyone but Fang, and even being around Fang did not bring her this kind of comfortable peace.

Vanille snuggled a little more into Lightning and worried her bottom lip with her teeth, wondering why that was.

"Alright," Lightning said, staring the Chocobo down and drawing Vanille out of her thoughts, "Up you go."

Vanille squeaked as the soldier lifted her (quite awkwardly) onto the Chocobo's back. She let go of the Lightning's neck, flailing her arms a little to get some balance as she was pushed onto the bird's supple back, sitting sideways, and ended up falling against it's neck, winding her arms around it. The Chocobo let out a quiet, but startled squawk.

"Are you alright?" Lightning asked, hands pressed on her legs to keep her from sliding off.

"Um, yeah," Vanille turned to the soldier with a nod and bright smile, "Everything's a-ok!"

Lightning nodded, a soft, relieved sigh sweeping past her lips.

"Good."

She watched as Vanille nuzzled comfortably against the Chocobo's neck, arms still looped around its neck, a brief but small smile quirking her lips up, before she stepped beside her and laid a firm hand against the bird's side.

"Now let's go and find the others so we can get the heck out this place," she then grumbled under her breath, "I'm going to kill Fang for this."

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_Elsewhere_

Sazh breathed a heavy sigh, "I'm getting too old for this," he said, unholstering his pistols as a group of Goblins and a couple of rogue Gorgonopsids surrounded them.

"Stop complaining so much, old man," Fang called back. She grinned, emerald orbs shining in anticipation as she eyed each monster. She tapped her finger lazily against the lance swung casually over her shoulder, "Maybe ya should've stayed back at the camp, yeah?"

Sazh rolled his eyes, "And leave you and the kid alone?" he snorted, "Fat chance. Lightning's going to kill us."

Head thrown back, Fang laughed heartily, "Nah. She ain't going to do nothing to us, not after one look from Vanille."

Sazh's lips twitched into a smirk as Hope glanced between the two of them in silent confusion.

"You're right," he chuckled, "I almost forgot about that."

Fang's grin widened, "Yeah," she slunk down into an offensive stance, positioning her lance in front of her, "Now let's clear these little critters out."

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**End**


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